Coin operated amusement device



1933. L. D. COOK COIN OPERATED AMUSEMENT DEVICE 2' Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 15. 1931 L! II Z I E I J m U z x T INVENTOR. (49. 6 BY ATTORNEYS Dec. 5, 1933. L. D. cooK COIN OPERATED AMUSEMENT DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June l5, 1931 K INVENTOR- ATTORNEYJ Patented Dec. 5, 1933 UNITED (STATES PATENT OFFICE 16 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in coin operated amusement devices.

In recreation parlors and similar establishments, it is common practice to maintain a. number of pool tables or other amusement devices and to charge for playing in accordance with the amount of time consumed. This procedure, however, necessitates the employment of a number of attendants to handle the money, to keep time, and to check the players in and out.

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide an improved coin operated amusement device in which the time during which playing is permitted from a single deposit is controlled automatically, thereby making it possible to operate a number of amusement devices with no supervision.

A further object of this invention is .to provide a coin operated amusement device which may be constructed in miniature size for installation in ice cream parlors, hotel lobbies and the like.

A further object of this invention is to provide a device of the class described in which the balls which have been used for playing are automatically locked in an inaccessible position at the end of a predetermined period of play and in which said balls are automatically released, in readiness for resumed play when another coin is deposited.

A more specific object of this invention is to v provide a coin operated amusement device having a scoring rack for the balls in which means is provided for normally holding the balls in the rack, said means permitting discharge from the rack only upon deposit of a coin.

A further specific object of the invention is to provide a device of the class described in which any accesible balls at the end of a predetermined period of play may be utilized, but in which said balls will not be discharged for scoring until another coin is deposited.

A further object of this invention is to provide a coin operated amusement device embodying a weight operated timing device arranged to prevent discharge of pocketed balls at the end of a predetermined time interval.

A further object of this invention is to provide the combination with'a coin operated amusement device of means for discharging merchandise checks or the like when a coin is inserted in the device.

A further object ofthe invention is to provide a coin operated amusement device having means for automatically operating a signal at the end of a predetermined period of time to notify the players that another coin must be inserted if the game is to be continued.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists of the improved coin operated amusement device and all its parts and combinations as set forth in the claims and all equiva- Ients thereof.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating one complete embodiment of the preferred form of the invention in which the same reference numerals designate the same parts in all of the views:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a pool table embodying the improved coin operated control, part of the top of the table being broken away to show the mechanism therebeneath;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, parts being broken away;

Fig. 3 is an end view of the table, parts being broken away;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal vertical sectionthrough the table showing the mechanism in a position ready for the deposit of a coin;

Fig. 5 is a similar view showing the positions of the parts after the coin has been deposited and the coin slide pushed inwardly;

Fig. 6 is a similar view showing the position of the parts after the coin slide has been pulled out again;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken on line '7--'7 of Fig. 1; i

Fig.8 is an enlarged detail view taken on line 88o f Fig. 1; and

nism illustrated in Fig. 8.

Referring to the drawings the pool table is generally of usual construction and comprises legs 12 supporting a top 13, there being a shelf 14 disposed between the legs and below said top to form a compartment 15. The sides of said compartment are normally closed by side pieces 16 and the ends by end pieces 17.

The pool table top 13 is formed in the usual manner with pockets 18 toward which balls are directed during the course of play. A plurality of channel guides 19 lead from the pockets 18 within the compartment 15 to direct the balls deposited in the pockets to a central point 20 having an aperture 21 therein. Below the aperture 21 is another channel 22 which is arranged to direct balls which have fallen through the opening 21 toward a discharge basket 23 which projects from one end of the table. The guideways 19 are all inclined downwardly from the pockets toward the opening21 and the guideway 22 inclines toward the basket 23. v

Mounted on the end of the table having the basket are a plurality of scoring racks 24, see Fig. 3. These racks are all formed with an opening 25 (see Fig. 1) through which balls removed from the basket may be placed for scoring purposes. The opening 25 in each rack communicates with a passage 26 and said passage is separated by a partition 27 from a return passage 28 which leads to the rack proper. Due to the partition construction a ball once placed in the rack cannot manually be withdrawn from the inlet end. The racks are also provided with front flanges 29 which prevent forward withdrawal of the balls. All of the racks incline slightly downwardly from the inlet openings toward a discharge conduit 30 which communicates through a passageway 31 with the basket 23. The balls are normally held in the rack and prevented from passage through the conduit 30 and the passageway 31 by end stops 32 which will be hereinafter described more fully.

A supporting member 33 is mounted on suitable legs 34 within the compartment 15 and on said member are slides 35 and 36. Said slides are normally held in position on the support 33 by means of pins 37 which extend upwardly from the support and which engage slots 38. The slide 36 has one end of a coil spring 39 connected to its inner end as at 40 and the other end of said spring is secured to a support 41. Said slide is L-shaped having an outer narrow portion 42 and an inner widened portion 43, there being a shoulder 44 formed at the end of said widened portion. Said slide has pivoted thereto a dog 45 which projects over the shoulder 44 and said dog is formed with one depending portion 46 and with another depending portion 47.

The slide 35 has its inner end formed with an upturned flange 48 which is adapted to be engaged by the dependingportion 46 of the dog 45. Said slide is also formed with an aperture 48 which is arranged to be engaged by the depending portion 47 of the dog when the depending portion 46 is engaging the upturned flange 48, as shown in Fig. 5. The aperture 48' is also arranged to register in one position of movement of the slide with an aperture 49 formed in the support for the slide in the manner shown in Fig. 6.

A bracket 50 which extends upwardly from the shelf 14 of the compartment 15 has pivoted therein the intermediate portion of a lever 51. One end of said lever is positioned below the opening 21 at the meeting point of the guideways 19 and the other end of the lever is formed with an upwardly projecting pin 52 which is movable adjacent the support for the slides to raise the dog 45 and the depending portions 46 and 47 thereof, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 7.

The outer end of the slide 35 is secured to the inner end of a coin receiving slide 53. The said coin receiving slide is of standard construction and is identical to that employed on automatic pianos, phonographs and the like, being arranged to receive a coin in an opening '54 of an outer portion-55 thereof and movable with said coin to cause movement of the inner portion 53 of the coin slide, the coin being arranged to drop into a receptacle 56 below the coin slide and within the compartment. The said receptacle communicates with an opening 57 in the shelf and said opening may be closed by a locked door 58.

The inner end of the slide is also equipped with an arm 59 which is engageable upon return movement of the slide after a coin has been deposited, with a slot 60 in the bottom of a cylinder 61. The said cylinder 61 may be filled with merchandise checks and in this manner one check is discharged into a receptacle 62 as each coin is deposited. The said checks may be used to purchase other merchandise in the establishment or for any desired purpose.

The slide 36 has projecting laterally therefrom toward the center of the table, a rod 63. It

also has projecting outwardly from its outer end a cam member 64.

The end of the table adjacent which the ball racks are mounted is formed with V-shaped' apertures 65 therein as shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6. A vertically movable slide 66 mounted on the inner side of said end of the table has pivoted thereto as at 67 the inner ends of the stop members 32, there being one stop member for each rack. As is apparent from Figs. 4 and 5 the stops normally tend to hold the balls in the rack. However, upon outward movement of the slide 36 and cam 64 said cam will engage a pin 68 and cause raising of the slide to the position shown in Fig. 6 thereby freeing the balls and permitting them to be discharged into the basket 23.

A pair of supporting rods 69 extend upwardly on each side of the guideway 22, see Fig. 9, and have their upper ends connected by a cross-piece 70. Said cross-piece supports clock mechanism 71. Said mechanism is of usual construction and embodies a slip ratchet 72. A weight 74 has its ends guided by the rods 69. Said weight has rods 75 extending loosely therethrough, and the lower ends of said rods are threaded into a lower weight section 76 which is V-shaped in crosssection. The upper ends of the rods are provided with nuts 77 which normally allow the lower weight portion 76 to depend below the weight portion 74. One end of a chain 78 is secured to the weight portion 74 as at 79 and said chain passes over a sprocket 80 which is mounted on the same shaft as the slip ratchet. The other end of the chain is secured to the arm 63 which projects laterally from the slide 36. 110 Due to the slip ratchet construction the weight may be raised readily, but downward movement of the weight is controlled by the clock mechanism. A starting wheel 81 is also associated with the clock mechanism and said wheel is ar- 115 ranged to be brushed by a flexible extension 82 of an arm 83 in connection with the rod 63 when the latter rod is moved toward the clock mechanism to give a starting impetus to the latter.

The lower weight portion 76 has a lateral extension 84 which is V-shaped in cross-section and which is arranged upon downward movement to raise and ultimately release a lever 85 which is pivoted to a support 86 and which has its other end formed with a hammer 87 for sounding an alarm 88. Upon upward movement of the weight due to a flexible extension 89 on the lever 85, the extension 84 will slip by said lever.

When it is desired to play upon the table the 3 majority of the balls will be locked in the rack 24 and others will be held in the guideway 22 behind the weight 74, as shown in Fig. 2. The coin slide and the other parts will be in the position shown in Fig. 4. A co n is then inserted in 13 the aperture 54 of the slide 55 and the slide is pushed inwardly in the usual manner, the coin falling into the receptacle 56. This operates to move the inner portion 53 of the coin slide in an inward direction and to move the slide 35 from 146 the position shown in Fig. 4 to the position shown in Fig. 5, the projecting portion 46 of the dog 45 engaging the upturned flange 48 and the projecting portion 47 engaging the hole 48' of the slide. Next, the slide is pulled out to the posi- 45 tion shown in Fig. 6 and due to the engagement of the dog, the slide 36 will be correspondingly moved against the tension of the spring 39. This will cause release of the balls from the rack 24 into the basket 23 through the action of the cam 150 64 and stop members 32 as previously described. At the same time, the movement of the laterally projecting rod 63 with the slide 36 will cause a pull upon the chain '78 and movement of the latter to the position shown in Fig. 6, thereby pulling up the weights and releasing the'balls which were held behind said weights. Thus all of the balls will be discharged into the basket 23 ready for use. The engagement of the projecting portion 47 of the dog with the opening 49 in the support for the slide will serve to maintain the slides in the forward position against the tension of the spring 39.

Next, the balls are placed upon the table and the game is begun. When the first ball has been pocketed it will pass through one of the guideways 19 to the opening 21 and will fall through said opening on the inner end of the lever 51 causing the outer end of the latter to be raised. This will project the pin 52 upwardly against the dog 45 and will cause a release of the projecting portion 46 from the flange 48 and a release of the projecting portion 47 from the openings 48 and 49, thereby permitting the slide 36 to be' drawn rearwardly by the spring 39. Said rearward movement will cause the depending portion 82 of the arm 83 to brush against the starting wheel 81 of the clock mechanism and the weight will start to slowly descend, there being slack in the chain 78 as indicated in Fig. 8 to permit said downward movement of the weight. The clock mechanism may be timed to allow a desired playing interval between the time when the weight starts downwardly and the time when it is down a sufiicient distance to'obstruct the passage of the balls from the guideway 22. Due to the relatively movable connection of the lower weight portion 76 with the upper weight portion 74 when the weight is down to nearly obstructing position, a few balls can still pass through, and the possibility of balls becoming stuck-beneath the weight is minimized. I

When the weight has moved to its fully lowered position as shown in Fig. 8, the gong 88 will sound and the players will know that the time is over. No more balls will be discharged into the basket 23 and no balls can be removed from the rack. Playing can therefore be continued only until the few balls remaining in the basket 23 are used up, and even if said balls are played the scoring cannot be carried on as the balls will not be discharged from the table. In order to continue with the game it is then necessary to deposit another coin and proceed in the manner above described.

Although the drawings show the construction more particularly in connection with a pool table it is obvious that it may be embodied in other types of games utilizing balls and pockets. Also, other changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, and all such changes are included as may come within the scope of the claims.

-What I claim is:

1. In an amusement device having pockets toward which balls are directced, a guideway leading from said pockets to'a point of discharge, coin controlled timing mechanism, means operable by the pocketing of the first ball after insertion of a coin for starting said timing mechanism, and means controlled 'by said timing mechanism for preventing discharge of balls from the guideway at the end of a predetermined time interval of play.

2. In an amusement device having pockets toward which balls are directed, a guideway leading from said pockets to a point of discharge, a rack for receiving discharged balls for scoring. purposes, means embodied in said rack for preventing manual removal of balls therein, coin receiving means, timing mechanism, means between said timing mechanism and said coin .receiving means for preparing said timing mechanism for operation upon operation of the coin receiving means, means also responsive to operation of the coin receiving means for discharging racked balls, means operable upon the pocketing of the first ball for starting said timing mechanism, and means controlled by the timing mechanism for preventing discharge of balls from the guideway at the end of a predetermined time interval of play.

3. In an amusement device having pockets to ward which balls are directed, a guideway leading from said pockets to a point of discharge, a weight movable by gravity, timing mechanism for controlling the movement of said weight, coin receiving means, and means between said coin receiving means and said weight for raising the weight upon movement of the coin receiving 1G0 means with a coin, said weight being movable by gravity to obstruct the passage of balls from the guideway at the end of a predetermined time interval.-

4. In an amusement device having pockets toward which balls are directed, a guideway leading from said pockets to a point of discharge,

a weight movable by gravity, timing mechanism for controlling the movement of said weight, coin receiving means, and means including amovable slide between said coin receiving means and said weight for raising the weight upon movement of the coin receiving means with a coin, said weight being movable by gravity to obstruct the passage of balls from the guideway at the end of a predetermined time interval.

5. In an amusement device having pockets toward which balls are directed, a guideway leading from said pockets to a point of discharge, a weight movable by gravity, timing mechanism for controlling the movement of said weight, coin receiving means, means between said coin receiving means and said weight for raising the weight upon movement of the coin receiving means with a coin, said weight being movable by gravity to obstruct the passage of balls from the guideway at the end of a predetermined time interval, a signal, and means in connection with said weight for operating said signal when the weight is in obstructing position.

6. In an amusement device having pockets toward which balls are directed, a guideway leading from said pockets to a point of discharge, a weight movable by gravity, timing mechanism controlling the movement of said weight, coin receiving means, a slide having a connection with said weight, a spring normally holding the slide in an inward position, a second slide movable inwardly with the coin receiving means when a coin is deposited therein, means for causing tem- L4 porary locking of said two slides together after the second slide has been moved inwardly, a connection between the first slide and the weight-v for raising the latter upon outward movement of the two interlocked slides, means for temporarily 34? holding said two slides in said outward position, and means responsive to the pocketing of the first ball for releasing said slides from the outward position and for freeing the interlocking means, said first slide being then movable inwardly by the spring to provide for descent of the weight and said weight being movable by gravity to obstruct the passage of balls from the guideway at the end of a predetermined time interval.

'7. In an amusement device having pockets toward which balls are directed, a guideway leading from said pockets to a point of discharge, a weight movable by gravity, timing mechanism controlling the movement of said weight, coin receiving means, a slide having a connection with said weight, a spring normally holding the slide in an inward position, a second slide movable inwardly with the coin receiving means when a coin is deposited therein, means for causing temporary locking of said two slides together after the second slide has been moved inwardly, a connection between the first slide and the weight for raising the latter upon outward movement of the two interlocked slides, means for temporarily holding said two slides in said outward position, and lever means responsive to the pocketing of the first ball for releasing said slides from the outward position and for freeing the interlocking means, said first slide being then movable inwardly by the spring to provide for descent of the weight andsaid weight being movable by gravity to obstruct the passage of balls from the guideway at the end of a predetermined time interval.

8. In an amusement device having pockets toward which balls are directed, a guideway leading from said pockets to a point of discharge, a weight movable by gravity, timing mechanism controlling the movement of said weight, coin receiving means, a slide having a connection with said weight, a spring normally holding the slide in an inward position, a second slide movable inwardly with the coin receiving ineans when a coin is deposited therein, a dog for causing temporary locking of said two slides together after the second slide has been moved inwardly, a connection between the first slide and the weight for raising the latter upon outward movement of the two interlocked slides, a dog for temporarily holding said two slides in said outward position, and means responsive to the pocketing of the 'first ball for releasing said dogs, said first slide being then movable inwardly by the spring to provide for descent of the weight and said weight being movable by gravity to obstruct the passage of balls from the guideway at the end of a predetermined time interval.

9. In an amusement device having pockets toward which balls are directed, guideways leading from said pockets to a common meeting place, there being an opening at said common meeting place, a discharge guideway leading from a point below said opening, coin controlled timing mechanism, means operable by the passage of the first ball through said opening for starting said timing mechanism, and means controlled by said: timing mechanism for preventing discharge of balls from the discharge guideway at the end of a predetermined time interval of play.

10. In an amusement device having pockets toward which balls are directed, guideways leading from said pockets to a common meeting place, there being an opening at said common meeting place, a discharge guideway leading from a point below said opening, coin controlled timing mechanism, means including a lever tiltable by the passage of the first ball through said opening for starting said timing mechanism, and means controlled by said timing mechanism for preventing discharge of balls from the discharge guideway at the end of a predetermined time interval of play. v

11. In an amusement device utilizing balls, an inclined rack in which used balls are placed for scoring purposes, said rack having an inlet opening at one end and a discharge opening at the other end, a pivotally mounted stop normally having its free end projecting into the rack to prevent passage of racked balls from the discharge opening, and means for moving the point of pivot of said stop to withdraw the free end of the latter from obstructing position and cause discharge of racked balls.,

12. In an amusement device utilizing balls, an inclined rack in which used balls are placed for scoring purposes, said rack having an inlet opening at one end and a discharge opening at the other end, a pivotally mounted stop normally having its free end projecting into the rack to prevent passage of racked balls from the discharge opening, and means including a cam for moving the point of pivot of said stop to withdraw the free end of the latter from obstructing position and cause discharge of the racked balls.

13. In an amusement device utilizing balls, an inclined rack in which used balls are placed for scoring purposes, said rack having an inlet opening at one end and a discharge opening at the other end, a pivotally mounted stop normally having its free end projecting into the rack to prevent passage of racked balls from the discharge opening, coin receiving means, and means responsive to operation of said coin receiving means with a coin for moving the point of pivot of said stop to withdraw the free end of the latter from obstructing position and cause discharge of the racked balls.

14. In an amusement device utilizing balls, an inclined rack in which used balls are placed for scoring purposes, said rack having an inlet opening at one end and a discharge opening at the other end, a pivotally mounted stop normally having its free end projecting into the rack to prevent passage of racked balls from the discharge opening, coin receiving means, and means including a cam responsive to operation of said coin receiving means with a coin for moving the point of pivot of said stop to withdraw the free end of the latter from obstructing position and cause discharge of the racked balls.

15. In an amusement device having pockets toward which balls are directed, a guideway leading from said pockets to a point of discharge, coin controlled timing mechanism, means operable by the pocketing of a ball after insertion of a coin for starting said timing mechanism, and means controlled by said timing mechanism for preventing discharge of balls from the guideway at the end of a predetermined time interval of play.

16. In an amusement device having pockets toward which balls are directed, a guideway leading from said pockets to a point of discharge, a rack for receiving discharged balls for scoring purposes, means embodied in said rack for preventing manual removal of balls therein, coin receiving means, timing mechanism controlled by said coin receiving means, means responsive to operation oi the coin receiving means for discharging racked balls, and means controlled by the timing mechanism for preventing discharge of balls from the guideway at the end of a predetermined time interval of play.

L. D. COOK. 

